The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-11-08
MANY WAYS TO WE'D.

county court buildings to find the little
back room Of the registers office,
where he would be obliged to pay his
half-dollar and swear to more things
than he ever dreamed OF before he
could get marriage license.
He would certainly have been in a
bad fix when he came TO swear that
Eve was Of full age, or to produce the
written consent Of her father or mother.
1t Is safe to say that he would have
given it up and died an old bachelor.
Yet without ministers, magistrate.
register or other official Intervention,
the marriage of Adam and Eve was
such that it would have stood the test
Of the old English common law.
From earliest times the various states
Of society have imposed regulations for
the observance of this solemn contract,
except that the parties cannot now
change or terminate it by mutual con-
sent as they can all other contracts
There is in the Royal Library OF Paris
written contract made in 1897, be-
tween two persons Of noble birth in
Armagnal. Tho husband and wife were
bound to each other for seven years.
1t was also agreed that the parties
should have the right to renew the Tie
at the end of that time, if they mutually
agreed. but il not, the children were
to be equally divided, and If the num-
Der should chance not to be even. they
were to draw lots for the odd one.
The Roman church alone regarded
marriage as q sacrament but all the
other churches recognized it as a d.
vine institution, and. accordingly.
every denomination has provided re-
ligious services for its sOlemnization.
So strong a hold did the church in
England gain upon it that for long
time the regulation OF marriage and
divorce was almost exclusively under
the church's Jurisdiction. '".
Among the Romans there were
three ways of obtaining "a wife, by
capture, sale or gift When a Roman
bought a wife, and this was the usual
way, the ceremony that followed was
merely gone through for the sake of
having ind sputable evidence Of the
SALE The head of the family had to
give her over to the husband in the
presence OF witnesses. and it is from
this that we now have the custom of
giving away the bride. Before the
period of Rome's greatness. the par
ties could dissolve the marriage by
mutual consent Ioilsmm sHJ9b04a
When they wished to terminate the
contract, they usually went before An
altar and in The presence of witnesses
declared the marriage at an end At
and after thD time of Rome's great
ness the marriage was indissoluble.
The Roman husband took his wife not
as her hush nd, but as her father.
She camo into his house the same
almost as an adopted daughter.
Originally the husband had absolute
and complet, control over her and her
property. Even afier.his death she was
subjected to any guardianship that he
might have bad appointed for her dur
ing his lifetime. But change came in
her condition, and came as changes
usually come, from one extreme to
another. Tho wife WAS now subject to
the tutelage of guardians appointed BY
her own family. This tutelage gave
her a very II dependent position as to
her separate estate and person.
Before this change came, and even
afterward, there was exercised among
the Romans complete tyranny by the
head of the family over his relations
which were members of his family.
As head of the family, the eldest
male was always the head; he had
power not only over his relatives. but
all persons connected with his house
hold and his .children's households.
While the father lived his son was sub
iect to him. although the son might be
40 years old and have a large family of
his own. The grandchildren were sub
ject to tho grandfather the same as
their own father. a qsIrn Err gntar.
The family was then regarded mNch
as we now regard the individual. II
a member mmits crime the whole
family was Id responsible. and II was
perfectly law ul for the injured family
to get revenge, or satisfaction. even II
1t were necessary to exterminate the
whole offending family. This was car
ried to such an extent that whole
families were destroyed.
The blood feud, and it was we'll
named. desce led from father to son.
1t was to tn Roman, in effect. what
the Inherited curse was to the Greek.
The feud was kept up not so much for
the sake of pun shment as to prevent
the supposed liability Of the offending
family to commit fresh offences. With
all their peculiar customs In regard to
the family, 10 must be said to their
credit that they never to any extent